Today, Azerion, the high-growth, digital entertainment and media company, and EFIC1, a European special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) launched in March 2021 by, among others, former Commerzbank CEO Martin Blessing, jointly announce that they have reached an agreement to create a combined business resulting in Azerion becoming a publicly-traded company on Euronext Amsterdam.
With an enterprise value of EUR 1.3 bn, the proposed Azerion/EFIC1 business combination is expected to strengthen Azerion’s positioning as a European digital entertainment powerhouse (2021E pro-forma revenues of EUR 355m+) by giving it easier access to the capital markets.
Closing off Azerion’s ambitious acquisition campaign throughout 2021, which has seen adtech companies such as Sublime in France, Inskin Media in the UK, KeyMobile and Strossle in Sweden, become part of Azerion’s group, this business combination confirms Azerion’s twinned objectives to further entrench its position as European digital entertainment powerhouse and to develop new products and services for highly engaged digital gaming audiences.
Sitting at the heart of two converging trends, social gaming and digital advertising, Azerion has built its success upon the growing demand for highly engaging digital media and entertainment content both by creating and acquiring some of the most popular gaming franchises (Habbo Hotel, Hotel HideAway, and Governor of Poker) and by leading on the developments of immersive multiplayer experiences, using the latest technological breakthroughs (including blockchain, NFTs and AI).
The combination with EFIC1 should enable Azerion to tap into opportunities in the digital entertainment and digital advertising markets and will allow the combined company to invest in the development of technologies such as augmented/virtual reality, blockchain and innovative programmatic advertising.
*Azerion is a client of Bluestripe Communications, owned by Bluestripe Group, the owner for NDA.
